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Essentials of Organisation Behaviour/Organisation Behaviour

Notes 3. Laissez-faire Style: A leader who generally gave the group complete freedom to make
decision and complete the work in whatever way it saw fit. Research results revealed that
employee-oriented leaders were associated with high group productivity and higher job
satisfaction. Leaders who exhibited high level of consideration and high level of task
orientation achieved high subordinate performance and satisfaction. Some studies reported
that democratic style of leadership was most effective, although later studies showed
mixed results.

Situational Theories

Situational theories of leadership studies revealed that choosing the appropriate style of
leadership depends upon the situation will yield more effective results than following same
type of leadership style across all the time. Among various situational theories of leadership
Fiedler's contingency model and Hersey and Blanchard's Life Cycle Model outlined the
importance of situational factors while choosing the appropriate style of leadership.
Fiedler's model highlighted that task-oriented style of leadership will be more effective in both
the extreme situations such as highly favorable and highly unfavorable situations. If the situations
are moderately favorable, relationship oriented style will be more effective.
Hersey and Blanchard model reported that if the employees are highly matured psychologically
and possess job competency, the enforcing delegating style will be more effective. Similarly if
the employees are not adequately possessing job competency and very low in psychological
maturity, the enforcing directing style will be more effective.

Controlling

The control process is a three-step process that involves measuring actual performance, comparing
actual performance against a standard, and taking managerial action to correct deviations or
inadequate standards. Before considering each step in detail, we should be aware that the control
process assumes that performance standards already exist. These standards are the specific goals
created during the planning against which performance progress can be measured.
Step I – Measuring: This is the first step in the control process. Four common source of information
frequently used by managers to measure actual performances are personal observation, statistical
reports, oral reports and written reports. Each has particular advantage and drawbacks; however,
a combination of information sources increases both the number of input sources and the
probability of getting reliable information. It is desirable to use both quantitative and qualitative
criteria to measure the actual performance. For instance, a production manager use number of
paper cups produced per hour, percentage of rejects retuned by customers, scrap rate etc. Similarly,
marketing managers often use measures such as percentage of market held, average dollar per
sale, number of customer visits per sales person etc.
Step II – Comparing: The comparing step determines the degree of variation between actual
performance and the standard. Some variation in performance can be expected in all activities.
It is critical, therefore, to determine the acceptable range of variation. Deviation that exceeds
this range become significant and need the manager's attention. In the comparison stage, managers
are particularly concerned with the size and direction of the variation.
Step III – Taking Managerial Action: Managers can choose among three possible course of
action: (i) they can do nothing, (ii) they can correct the actual performance (iii) they can revise
the standards. Correct Actual Performance: If the source of performance variation is unsatisfactory
work, the manager will want to take corrective action. Examples of such corrective action might
include changing the strategy, the structure, compensation practices or training programs,

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